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WWII - THIRD PHASE |
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| 1941 | |||||
| June | Syria is attacked by Allied troops (British and French) | ||||
Germany and Turkey signs a treaty where they promise to respect each
others territory… |
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OPERATION BARBAROSSA starts. Germany attacks the Soviet
Union the 22nd of June 1941… |
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| Finland declares war against Soviet Union | |||||
| July | Armistice with Syria! Britain occupies Syria and Lebanon… | ||||
| Alliance: Great Britain + Soviet Union (July 12th) | |||||
| August | The Atlant Declaration | ||||
| Iran let British and Soviet troops enter the country | |||||
| October | USA + Great Britain agreed to supply Russia with war materials for nine months… |
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| Japan takes over the rule of French Indo-China | |||||
| November | British Counter Attack launched into Libya… (Tobruk reached – again in December) | ||||
| December | Great Britain declares war on Finland | ||||
| Japan attacks Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7th) | |||||
The German troops come to a halt over Winter in Russia… Hitler now takes personal over the continuation of the Russian Campaign |
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USA and Great Britain declares war against Japan (notice that the USSR and Japan honors their mutual non-aggression pact…) |
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Germany and Italy declares war on the USA and signs a full military alliance with Japan |
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| 1942 | |||||
| May | Germany ready to continue the Russian Campaign – focus is now on the South (the rich industrial area of the DonBasin and the oilfields of Caucasus) – eventually take the Middle East with the help of the African corps… |
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Axis counter-attack launched in Libya. Tobruk falls (again) in June and the Axis move into Egypt (again) – halt at El Alamein (for four months). Rommel tries to attack two times: July 1st and August 31st – both attempt failed! |
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| June | The earlier agreement between USA-Great Britain and Russia (about assisting the USSR with war supplies) runs out. USA extends her lend-lease arrangements to the USSR (ev. US would send 11 billion dollars worth of goods to Russia – over 3000 tanks and 4000 air planes) |
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| September | German troops have reached the outskirts of Stalingrad – The Battle of Stalingrad had begun! |
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| October | British troops under Montgomery starts a counter-attack at El Alamein (have good use for the 500 new USSherman tanks they received). In early November they start to come through… |
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| November | At the same time as the British troops came through the German defense lines outside El Alamein US, British and Free French troops land in North-West Africa (Casablanca and Oran). The Vichy-French Head of Morocco/Algeria was assassinated and an Allied appointed French General (Giraud) was appointed! This made the Germans react in Europe… Pétains Vichy-regime was removed by Germany and all of France was now under German occupation! The French managed though to scuttle their fleet in Toulon before it fell in German hands… |
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| 1943 | |||||
| January | The fighting in North Africa is “stabilized”. The front will not start to move until May… |
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CASABLANCA CONFERENCE decides that the eventual victory in North Africa should be followed by an invasion of Italy (described by Churchill as the “soft under-belly of Europe”). |
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At the 31st of January General von Paulus (Germany) surrenders with his 80 000 surviving men… |
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| February | Russia starts an offensive and take back the cities of Kursk, Rostov and Kharkov. |
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| May | The Italian Commander-in-Chief (Marshal Messe) surrender in North Africa. Mussolinis dreams of an Italian Empire in Africa is dead and Hitlers hope of dominating Egypt and the Middle East also… Now they have to try to protect Europe……. |
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| June | Some small islands between Tunisia and Italy are occupied by Allied forces. That starts the Italian Campaign |
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| July | British and US troops land on Sicily… | ||||
Mussolini was forced to appear before the Fascist Grand Council. They criticized him and he was formally sacked by King Victor Emmanuel III. He was then put in arrest. |
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| Russia launches another offensive in the USSR (Smolensk falls in September)… | |||||
| August | After negotiations a secret act of surrender is signed by Italy August 3rd. At the 8th the surrender was made public and the following day bigger Allied forces landed on the Italian mainland. August 10th - the Italian Fleet surrender to the British at Malta. Germany counters by occupying Rome and they managed to release Mussolini who now becomes a German “puppet”… |
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| October | The Allied invasion of Italy continues. The troops had as an aim to spend Christmas in Rome… |
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| November | The German General Kesselring constructs a defense line south of Rome – the “Gustav Line” (which includes the old monastery at Monte Cassino) which stops the allied advance. He manages to hold this line until late May 1944… |
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TEHRAN CONFERENCE – Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin meet in Iran to discuss the war and the situation once the war is over... |
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| 1944 | |||||
| January | The Russian offensive in the North finally manages to break the siege of Leningrad (after 900 days)… |
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| March/April | Russian forces enter Poland and stands at the boarders of Romania and Czechoslovakia. |
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| May | Kesselring orders the German troops to retreat from the Gustav Line… He moves north and there he constructs a second defense line – the “Gothic Line” which he will hold until April 1945… |
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| June | The Allies enter Rome! | ||||
| D-Day – “Operation Overlord” took place at the morning of June 6th. | |||||
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| Russian offensive against Finland. Viborg falls and Russia manages to break through the Mannerheim Line. | |||||
| August | Romania surrenders! Romanian forces join the Russian troops marching towards Yugoslavia. |
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The Allied forces reached Paris. General De Gaulle and the Free French marched into the capital. |
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| September | Bulgaria surrenders! A pro-Russian government is established in Sofia. Bulgarian forces join the Russian troops marching towards Yugoslavia. |
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Brussels liberated by the Allied forces. After the failure at Arnhem the allied advance was stopped (by the Siegfried Line and bad weather…) |
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| October | Russian troops stops outside Warsaw – Meanwhile their has been an upraise in the city which now the Germans manage to crush. This tactic demonstration of Russia is strongly criticized by her Allies. |
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Churchill flew to Moscow where he meets Stalin. They conclude the percentages agreement… |
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Belgrade liberated by Russian, Bulgarian and Romanian troops. The Yugoslavian resistance forces also play an important role (split in two – nationalists and Communists. The Communists are lead by Marshal Tito) |
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| December | General von Runstedt launched a German counter-offensive through the Ardennes – again! It took the Allies by surprise but after a few weeks of better weather (so the bomb planes could find the German troops) the German advance was stopped! |
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| 1945 | |||||
| January | Russia continues her offensive in Poland. Warsaw falls on January 17th. | ||||
| February | Russian troops are now within 30 miles from Berlin. | ||||
| A bridgehead cross the Siegfried Line was established | |||||
YALTA CONFERENCE – Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin meet each other at the Crimean peninsula to discuss post-war issues… |
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| March | American forces reach Cologne and they managed to secure a bridge across the Rhine. |
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| April | Russian troops enter Berlin… | ||||
| Hitler commits suicide | |||||
| May | Hitler’s death is announced | ||||
| May 7th – Admiral Doenitz signs an official German surrender. | |||||
May 8th – President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill officially announces the victory in Europe… |
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